Red Rose
by Undercover Duck
Summary: In the wide variety of the small towns that collectively made up the Wild World, there were rules to be followed without exception. Most didn't question them, no matter how difficult some could be. But when a small group of humans decide that some rules are meant to be broken, they might just discover that there's much more to this world than meets the eye... [OC Alert!]
1. Pitfall

**A/N: I can't believe I'm doing this, but I'm deciding to start posting this as my first-ever ****_full_**** fanfiction.**

**Help.**

**In the past when I've written multi-chapter fanfictions, they've never gotten far before I gave up and moved on to the next. That's why I only have one-shots and drabbles written here...xD But anyways, I guess there's no turning back now. For the sake of anyone who actually might read this, I guess I'd better finish this one.**

**So. The fanfiction. I know the summary probably seems a bit cryptic, but honestly it's just about all that I myself know about this story's plot thus far. All I can say is that this is an ****_Animal Crossing: Wild World_**** fanfiction that I've written to be a tad more realistic. Hopefully it'll be easy enough to follow...**

**Oh, wait—one more thing: Yes, the character 'Jack' is loosely based off of Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians. That would be because much of this fanfic is based off of my own Animal Crossing game, and I happen to have a character named Jack with white hair and blue eyes who wears a blue, frosty hoodie.**

**AAANYWAY, enough of my talking. Hope you like~! :D**

**Disclaimer: Animal Crossing (c) Nintendo**

**Jack Frost (c) Dreamworks**

* * *

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_Chapter One_

_**Pitfall**_

_._

The cringe-worthy raucous of a series of crashes reverberated through the house, followed by a conclusive _thud._ In the solitary upstairs bedroom, Meggy groaned and rolled onto her back. As she came to her senses she sat up in bed, blinking inquisitively at her bedside alarm clock. "2:37 in the morning?!" she muttered aloud, shoving her hands into her tangled brown hair in frustration. "What on Earth could he be doing past _two in the morning?!_"

Grumbling, she hauled herself out of bed, wincing as her bare feet met the cold linoleum floor of her bedroom. _I really need to install a carpet up here,_ she thought irritably to herself. Without bothering to turn on a light, she stumbled down the stairs to find the cause of the commotion.

The living room was dark, even with the harsh light pouring from the half-closed doorway to the bedroom on the left. Meggy skirted a couch and almost tripped over a houseplant before reaching the room; not bothering to knock, she pushed the door open and stared.

"Jack!" The boy on the floor started at the sound of Meggy's shocked voice, scrambling to his feet as she took in the sight of his room. "What is this mess? And do you not realize what _time it is?!"_

Jack sheepishly followed her gaze to the pile of overturned furniture around him. Meggy crossed her arms, her stance stubborn, demanding an answer. Seeing this, Jack hastily dug through the mess until he managed to pull out a cardboard-and-plastic basketball hoop and backboard.

"You see, I was trying to install this on the wall over the dresser, and...I kind of fell," he nervously explained, a little frightened of Meggy in her current cranky state.

Meggy didn't reply for awhile, instead taking notice of what she hadn't before: other than the deal with the overturned furniture, the TV was on, a bowl of chips sat on the bed, and the old-fashioned stereo in the corner was blaring some sort of odd rock music. Meggy's cold, brown eyes once again swiveled over to Jack.

"What. Were. You. Doing. Up. _In the first place?!_" she hissed through clenched teeth.

Jack shrugged, pretending to be unconcerned. "Chilling?"

Meggy walked over to the stereo and TV, turning both off. "Well, clean up this mess and go to bed," she told Jack as she picked up the bowl of chips and headed back to the door with it. "You don't need to be keeping my sister up all night with your _chilling_." With that, she left the room, leaving Jack to reluctantly start putting the furniture back where it belonged.

* * *

Little did Meggy know that she needn't have worried about the noise keeping her younger sister awake. In fact, Summer was not even in the house. The nine-year-old girl was out on a mission, determined not to fail and not to be caught. For this to be possible, she was dressed all in black, including even a ninja mask she had previously bought from the Able Sisters. Her shoulder-length blonde hair, pulled up in a bouncy pony-tail, flowed out the back of her mask. She supposed that, between the visible ponytail and her startling blue eyes, she would be recognizable if caught, which made it crucial not to be.

The small town of the unusual name Texas was beautiful and serene at night, particularly on a night like this with no clouds to block the moonlight that shimmered on the surface of the slow-moving river. Summer paused on the north bank, allowing her senses a moment to soak in the scene before she was once again flitting through the trees, searching for the way across.

Reaching the cobblestone bridge, Summer warily scanned the area, unwilling to risk being spotted. Concluding that no one was around, she dashed across, her little red sneakers pattering loudly despite her efforts to be light-footed.

On the other side was an open grassy area where flowers grew freely in the spring and summer; Summer quickly sprinted across this into the cover of the sparse forest beyond it. Still moving south, she crept through the trees, one sweaty hand gripping the shaft of the shovel she'd stolen from her sister's tool shed. As she moved along, its polished, golden spade gleamed in the moonlight.

It didn't take long before the tree line stood behind her and she was pausing to get her bearings. The hard-packed soil beneath her feet had given way to sand, the deciduous and cedar trees had been replaced by scattered palms, and the chirping of insect song was now drowned out by the roar of the ocean.

Summer sighed with pleasure, taking a moment to relish the opportunity to breathe in the salty air. She hadn't come down here in awhile, and had somehow forgotten how much she loved this place. She felt truly at home, and not for the first time wished their house was ocean-side.

As her thoughts returned to the task at hand, she shook the daydreams from her head and crept along the edge of the beach to her left. Not much further now; she could see the small beach home clearly, nested snugly between two of Meggy's prized coconut trees.

The resident of this house was Genji, a self-proclaimed "chugging champion," whatever that meant. He could be a bit rough at times, but he usually meant no harm. However, Summer had overheard him talking to Mitzi, Meggy's best friend, and he had been overly harsh to the sensitive cat.

Summer had made the decision that Genji had to go.

As she reached the rabbit's home, she pulled a handful of curious seeds from her pocket. They were white, and each sported a curious blood-red exclamation point. Nobody really knew whether they were just painted on, or if the entire seed was man-made, but that wasn't half as weird as the mystery surrounding the seeds' behavior. Once planted, they created a booby-trap of some kind, triggered when someone stepped on the spot where a seed had been planted. A three-foot deep hole would open up in the ground beneath the victim's feet, and it was often as difficult to get out of as it was startling. For this reason, they were commonly called "pitfall seeds."

Pitfall seeds were annoying at the best of times, but walking out of one's house early in the morning to find that their front lawn was a minefield of the little buggers was not only a sure sign that you had enemies, but also many a time it was enough to make a person move out of town. This was, in fact, Summer's very goal.

Sneaking around to the front of Genji's house, she hefted the golden shovel and began to dig.

* * *

Meggy had long been considered the constant variable in the town of Texas—meaning, that while others moved in and away, she held the record for the longest time living there. Not a soul who lived in Texas now had been there on the day three years ago when the pigtailed, 12-year-old girl had moved empty-pocketed to the forested village with a population of thirteen. Now, at the tender age of 15, she was the wealthiest citizen in town, rivaled only by Tom Nook, the lead—and only—retailer. She made few friends, but regardless was looked up to by the other villagers. It had helped when her kid sister Summer had moved in a year and a half previously; Summer was well loved by all despite her slight attitude, and the sight of Meggy out by the river teaching her little sister how to fish made her seem less intimidating by far.

It's no question how Meggy made her fortune. Texas's native fruit is the peach, yet when walking through the town one is bombarded with brilliant greens, reds, oranges, and pinks from dozens of orchards laden with exotic fruit. Tidy groves of orange trees, a few scattered cherries, overwhelming clusters of apples, pears at every turn, and a neat row of coconut trees along the coastline are Texas's pride and joy. And even with all of this, peaches remain to feed a steady export to the nearest town of Redville, from which came all the apples. The close relationship between Redville and Texas is purely because the most powerful people in Redville happen to be Meggy's younger twin brothers, RJ and Cyrus.

The gossip between both towns declares that even during the Apocalypse when Nookington's goes bankrupt, the museum closes, and the Town Hall is no longer open 24/7, Meggy and her brothers will still be seen outdoors picking fruit twice a week.

* * *

**A/N: Ok, some of you may or may not have noticed from the really weird "typos" that I've had great difficulty deciding between the names 'Meggy' and 'Merry' for the main character. Meggy was her original name, and I got used to it despite how unusual it seemed for a name, but then I thought to change it to Merry, short for Marigold.**

**For now I think I'll keep it as Meggy, but I'd appreciate the readers' opinions, too, if you'd like to give them.**


	2. Fishing

**Disclaimer: I don't own Animal Crossing. Or Jack Frost. (Though I wish I did...)**

* * *

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_Chapter Two_

**_Fishing_**

_._

Morning found a cranky, bed-headed Summer pounding on the bathroom door. "Meg, if you don't come outta there in two minutes I swear I'll pick the lock or break down the door and _drag you out myself!" _she screamed.

Meggy's voice floated back over the sound of the shower. "I still have two minutes? Okay."

At this, Summer let out a shriek of pure frustration, kicking the door. "You're gonna use up all the hot water, you JERK!"

The high, sweet sound of Meggy's laughter mixed with the effects of running water and the acoustics of the bathroom only stoked Summer's fury. Finding the clock on the wall, she stared down the second hand with a burning intensity, vowing that if the bathroom door remained closed after exactly two revolutions, she was coming in whether Meggy was ready or not.

One and three quarters of a minute later, Summer found herself counting down the seconds. _Fifteen...fourteen…_ She hadn't noticed the absence of the sound of the shower, though it had turned off almost a minute ago. _Ten...nine…_ Nor did Summer note the footsteps on linoleum tile, nor the quiet rustle of clothing. _Five...four…_ With a squeak of the doorknob, the door swung open, causing Summer to start. Meggy stood in the doorway, framed by the steam wisping out behind her, all dressed for the day other than the bath towel perched on her head like a turban. Summer blinked slowly at her, disbelieving, and Meggy smirked back as if knowing she had finished with merely two seconds to spare.

"Patience is a virtue, hmm?" Meggy teased, stepping aside to let her sister through. As she passed, Meggy reached out a hand to tousle her sibling's already mussed blonde hair, but somehow Summer managed to duck at just the right moment, slipping past and slamming the door, missing Meggy's backside by a hair. Meggy awkwardly withdrew her hand, frowning at the closed door as the sound of the shower started up again. However, as the hot water finally ran out, the sound of a squeal accompanied by the bellow, "MEG, I SWEAR I'M GONNA MURDER YOU!" brought a sly smile back on Meggy's face.

* * *

When Summer joined Meggy out in the toolshed, she had not quite gotten over the shower incident, and so didn't say a word as she trudged in and grabbed her fishing pole from its corner by the door.

The toolshed was really a tiny, makeshift shack that Meggy had hastily built years ago using the wood from the old, dead trees she'd cut down to make way for her orchards. Since then it had been fixed up a bit, but that didn't change the fact that it was a mere six foot by eight foot space in which it was difficult for two people to breathe. However, one had to admit that the shed's contents were impressive; arrays of shovels, fishing rods, butterfly nets, two whole stacks of baskets, a couple of rarely-used slingshots, and an entire wall dedicated to a deadly collection of axes collectively made up for the pathetic shack itself.

Selecting a basket with which she could carry any fish she caught, Summer stole a glance in Meggy's direction. Her elder sister had paused where her gleaming golden shovel hung on the wall, and was scrutinizing the dusty spade suspiciously. Summer held her breath, waiting for Meggy to pass a comment, waiting to be caught, but Meggy simply shook it off and moved on, picking up a basket herself.

"Summer, would you mind going back inside and checking on Jack? No more sleeping in for him; it's high time he found himself work to do." Momentarily forgetting her anger in her relief that she hadn't been found out, Summer nodded, placed her basket and fishing pole on the ground outside, and slipped back in the house.

Rapping somewhat impatiently on Jack's bedroom door, Summer was having an infuriating sense of déjà vu. When there was no answer, the feeling increased as she called through the door, "Jack, you bum, wake up!"

Still no answer. Hardly believeing she was gonna do this, Summer turned the knob; finding it unlocked, she swung open the door and nervously peered into the teenage boy's bedroom.

She had never seen Jack's room before, even while it had been a guest room before his arrival. So, she was quite taken aback by how..._blue_ it was.

Everything was blue. The wallpaper, the carpet, the lampshade, the wardrobe, and even the ceiling. In fact, even the white tuft of hair peeking out from under the blue bedcovers seemed a shade of blue, oddly enough.

Seeing his hair seemed to make Summer more nervous. In truth, neither she nor Meggy knew Jack very well. He'd been kind of forced on them a few weeks ago when he'd moved in.

Summer wasn't often afraid, but right now she really, _really_ didn't want to have to be the one to wake up this almost-stranger.

Tip-toeing up to the bed, she could more easily discern his outline under the covers. Finding what she judged to be his shoulder, she shook it—a tad more gently than she would have done with Meggy. When this merited no response, she shook harder, rocking him back and forth.

"C'mon, rise and shine," she irritably ground out through clenched teeth.

Jack shifted, and his arm came out from under the sheets to knock Summer's hand away. "I might shine, but I won't rise," he mumbled, rolling over.

Summer set her jaw stubbornly, and promptly left the room. If anyone found out, at least she could blame what she was about to do on Jack at this point.

After a trip to the kitchen, Summer was once again standing by Jack's bed, in which he had fallen back asleep. The side of Summer's mouth quirked up in a wry smile as she slowly poured the entire pitcher of iced water she had retrieved over Jack's head.

The start of Jack's morning was rude, wet, and freezing cold. He sat up immediately, scrambling away from Summer to the other side of the bed, this initial reaction punctuated by a sharp yell.

"Why would you _do_ that?!" he cried out, breathing heavily from the shock.

"Mornin', Sleeping Beauty," was Summer's calm reply. Upon noticing that Jack wasn't wearing a shirt, she dug her hand into the pitcher, her fingers finding the last ice cube stuck to the bottom. Throwing it at Jack's bare chest, she added scornfully, "Why don't you wear a shirt to bed?" Without waiting for his answer, she turned on her heel and left, calling over her shoulder, "Get dressed and grab a fishing rod. I'll meet you by the river."

* * *

The week before Jack had come to Texas was perhaps the first time Tom Nook himself had passed the threshold of Meggy's two-story house; even when it had been renovated in the past, Nook had sent his nephews to do the actual construction work, merely supervising from a distance himself.

On that particular evening, Meggy had been upstairs, rearranging some items in her room to make way for a pot of fresh, pink roses she had found earlier that morning. When she heard the knock on the door, she'd yelled at the top of her lungs, "SUMMER! Could you answer that?" She could only hope her sister had heard her over the blaring metal music she was certain Summer was listening to.

Downstairs, Summer had groaned, turned down the volume, and swung open the door. All her irritation suddenly disappeared in her shock when she saw who stood there.

"Hello, Summer. Would you mind if I spoke to your sister?"

Minutes later, Tom Nook was seated at the kitchen table across from Meggy, sipping a steaming cup of tea that the latter had hastily fixed for him. Meggy was nervously stirring the coffee in her own mug, looking slightly harried by the unexpected visit from the town's richest shop owner. It didn't help that he was still wearing his high-class violet suit that he always wore nowadays for show; Meggy felt out of place in cut-off jean shorts and a baggy T-shirt, and she was suddenly self-conscious about having her brown hair tied up in a messy, careless bun that sat lopsided at a 10-o'-clock position on her head.

"So," she began nervously. "I doubt you came all this way just for a cup of tea." Nook shot her a look of mild surprise for this comment, wondering if she was taking a jibe at the fact that he hardly ever left his store, (thus the phrase 'all this way'; her house was hardly a ten-minute walk away) but the way she was staring at her coffee, still merely stirring it without taking a sip, Nook decided to brush off the insult as unintentional. And besides, even if it had been intentional...even he had to admit the truth of the implication.

Clearing his throat, Nook decided to get to the point. "You see, Meggy, I came because I need to discuss an issue with you." Meggy looked up at this, finally meeting his eyes, and as he saw he had her attention he continued, "I've received word from someone new who's moving to town."

He didn't elaborate, so Meggy asked, "But...people move all the time. What's that got to do with me?"

Nook hesitated before answering carefully. "The difference is...this guy's got nothing. As far as I know, he couldn't afford one of your peaches, and I'd be surprised if he had a coin to pay Kapp'n for the drive over here."

Meggy was instantly reminded of her own start in Texas: penniless, living in a tiny, worn-down wooden house with only a candle, a cardboard box, and the clothes on her back to her name. She shuddered at the memory of the first loan and all her struggles to pay it off with her meager offerings of fish, rare insects, and peaches. She also would never forget the horror of the first renovation, of trying to decline but having it dumped on her anyway. Sure, her house had been patched up a little and expanded, but for what? Even at that point, all it had done was underline the emptyness of the one room house, making her furniture—by then a candle, cardboard box, a small desk and a bed—seem that much less.

She had never forgiven Tom Nook for that.

"Is he going to be loaned a shack, too?" Meggy bit out after a few moments of silence.

Ignoring the bitterness in Meggy's tone, Nook responded calmly, quietly, "Well...no. When you came, Meggy, your house had already been built. It wasn't up to standard, but at least it was there. If we were to construct a new dwelling in time for the newcomer's arrival, where would we build? On the cliffs? At this point, that's the only place not invaded by forest!"

Meggy eyed the store owner warily over the rim of her cup. "What are you suggesting, then?"

At this point, Nook was looking nervous. "Well...um…" he cleared his throat uneasily. "Eh...remember Andrew?"

Meggy's eyes grew as big as saucers and she almost spit out her first sip of coffee. Swallowing it hastily she cried out, "Oh, _gosh,_ you are _not_ asking me to—"

"Meggy! Meggy, please just listen, I—" his soothing voice was apparently ineffective to calm her as she forcefully stood up, knocking her chair back, and began pacing the kitchen.

"You're asking me to let a complete stranger come and have the run of my house? Who knows who this guy is, or what he'll do? What if he never gets a job, living off my sister's and my hard work? What if—"

"_Meggy." _Nook's voice was stern this time. "I don't see why you're so worked up. This has happened before—"

"Andrew was different." Meggy's voice was deathly quiet.

"How so?" Nook challenged, struggling not to let his own frustration show. He was such an excellent salesman. So why couldn't he sell this idea? Meggy's excuses and flat out refusal irritated him greatly.

"Andrew wasn't forced on us, for one. He came to my door with a small amount of money, asking me to let him sleep in the attic. He promised he would help pay the rent once he was back on his feet, and that he wouldn't bother Summer or I. He kept both promises; he slept in the attic even when I offered him a room, kept mainly to himself for the most part, and paid me more than just back in full. Heck, he even paid for the addition of that room, before he moved out!" She pointed wildly in the vague direction of the guest room, or 'Blue Room,' as she liked to call it.

"That room is partially why I came to you," Nook persisted, still without a clue as to why Meggy was so adamantly against helping out a poor soul in a slump. "You have room for him to stay and enough resources to provide for him." At this point Nook let out a humorless laugh. "Your income is so steady, you can more than make up for any damage he causes to your funds. Don't even try to argue my point when I'm the one who buys your fruit products."

Meggy just stood there, a stubbornly determined expression on her face, but she was biting her lip.

"I don't know what problem you can possibly have with the idea," Nook plainly stated, knowing she must be at least on the fence by now. When her expression didn't change, he gave her one last push. "If learning how to find a job is what he needs, you could be a lot of help to him, you know. If you mentor him, it'll be that much faster for him to pay you back, move out and buy a house of his own. Or even leave town! There's a possibility you'll never have to see him again, and with no cost to you."

Meggy's expression softened and her blank stare focused, making Nook smile slightly. Finally, he had sold her. Without waiting for her to say anything the tanuki stood, placed his empty mug in the sink, and placed a hand on Meggy's shoulder. He thought to make a comment—if she were a guy he would have said "Good man," for instance—but he thought better of it and instead left without a word.

However, as he was opening the front door he turned and caught sight of two shining blue eyes spying from the dark stairwell. Summer. Smiling in her direction, Nook whispered "Good luck" and stepped out, closing the door behind him with finality.

Little did either of the three know that Meggy and Summer would need it.

* * *

The problem with "meeting by the river" was quite plainly the fact that the river ran across the entire town, beginning at a waterfall in the northwest that cascaded from the cliffs into a pool, from where the water flowed in a winding pattern, split in half going south and southeast, with both ends spilling into the ocean, effectively cutting the town into three sections.

When Jack finally did find Summer, she was sitting on a particularly steep part of the bank, perched on a rock with her feet dangling in the water. She had her head thrown back, gazing up at the wispy clouds as they drifted overhead. She looked relaxed, but Jack noted that she had one hand clamped firmly on her fishing rod, ready for a bite at any moment.

As he approached and sat casually on a nearby rock, Jack asked, "Doesn't dangling your feet in the water like that scare away the fish?"

Without looking at him Summer smirked and replied, "Actually, sometimes they come up and nibble my toes. That's why I'm cast out so close to shore." She gestured to the river, and for the first time Jack noticed just how close to the bank the bobber was floating.

"Looks like you've got it all figured out," Jack remarked.

"I should. I do this every day."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Summer glanced at Jack, the first time she'd looked his way since his arrival. "So, I'm supposed to teach you how to fish, huh? What all do ya already know?"

Jack shifted uncomfortably on his rock. "Erm...nothing, really to be honest."

Summer sighed. "I was 'fraid of that. Ok. I'll teach you how to cast first, I guess."

Teaching Jack how to cast turned out to be easier said than done. He got the hook caught on _everything;_ weeds, roots, low-lying brush, trees—and Summer. As Summer finally finished untangling one particularly poorly aimed hook from her hair, she glared crossly in Jack's direction.

"You've got to be more aware of what you're doing, for one, and you need to use enough force to get it to arch overhead. Watch." She grabbed Jack's pole from him, readied it in her left hand, and expertly cast the line out into the river. Reeling it back in, she handed it to Jack once more. "Now try it again," she commanded.

Jack was fairly frustrated at this point, but he tried again anyway, attempting to fling the line over his head. There was some definite improvement in his movement, but still Summer had to duck just in time as the hook sailed past her ear. She uttered a small sound of annoyance, almost too quiet for Jack to hear.

"Better. Try again."

Rolling his eyes, he lowered the line back into position. Just before he tossed it, Summer stopped him with some important advice.

"Wait! Swing it back and forth a little first," she instructed. "Yunno, to get the momentum started." Jack shot her a doubtful look but obliged anyway, letting the hook sway like a pendulum for a few moments, gaining speed, before letting it fly into action, moving his arms in one quick, fluid motion to send the line whistling through the air high over his head.

The hook fell neatly into the water with a tiny splash.

Everything else leaving his mind in his celebration of this accomplishment, Jack dropped the fishing pole at his side to thrust his hands into the air victoriously. "Yeah!" he shouted, too self-congratulatory to notice that his line had begun to tremble.

"Um, Jack?" Summer was alert, staring at the large shadow under the water that was hovering near his hook.

"What?" he looked at her, confused, just as the bobber went under, beginning to drag the pole towards the water with it. Jack cried out in surprise and grabbed the fishing rod, grappling with it. At first he was doing fine, but as the fish on the other end discovered it had an opponent and pulled harder, Jack slowly began to slide down the bank, unable to brace himself properly. Summer watched, not doing anything, until with final yank, Jack tripped over a rock and toppled into the river with a gigantic _SPLOOSH._ It was at this point that Summer was jolted to her feet with alarm, eyes scanning the water, watching for movement. From her standing position she could make out Jack, wrestling with what appeared to be a giant fish. The fish's thrashing seemed to weaken by the second, though it was hard to tell from above.

Finally, after what seemed like ages but couldn't be more than fifteen seconds, Jack surfaced, gasping for air. As he crawled out of the water up the bank, dragging the giant fish with him, Summer set down her pole to lend him a hand. Once she had helped him back onto his rock, she turned to the fish.

"What?" she breathed in shock as she got her first good look at it. "That's a sea bass! But that's impossible, they're only in saltwater!"

"Yeah," Jack piped up, shaking river water from his soaked white hair. "It probably swam upstream. I really didn't kill it—it died on its own from the freshwater."

Summer shook her head in amazement, and Jack came over to help her heft the thing into the fish basket, which already held two fish Summer had previously caught.

The two continued to fish until the afternoon rolled around, in which time Summer managed to catch two common bass and a goldfish. Jack's stroke of luck with the sea bass turned out to be just that—he caught nothing else the rest of the day, of course unless you count a dirty old boot that he reeled in. Summer hadn't. She'd wrinkled her nose and sent him to Town Hall to toss it in the dumpster. Jack hadn't minded his pitiful haul too much, if he was honest with himself. One dunk in the river was enough for one day, and fishing didn't really seem to his taste, anyway. He'd rather be up and moving around, not sitting still waiting for some dumb fish to nibble at a worm.

He was glad when Summer decided to call it a day. As she left to sell their catch to Nook, he carried the two fishing poles back to the shed.

_In fact,_ he thought to himself as he headed inside to wash up, _I'd be almost happy never to see a fish again._

* * *

That evening, Meggy was still in her orange orchard, struggling to reach the highest fruit. She was so close to being done—then she could go home, rest, and start on the cherry orchards tomorrow.

It was a lot of work, but the unrelenting scowl on her face had nothing to do with picking fruit in the slightest.

It had been about two weeks since Jack had moved in, and in that time he had never shown any interest in getting a job, much to Meggy's chagrin. She supposed it was unfair not to give him time to settle, but...she couldn't help but be annoyed.

She was being completely one-sided, she knew. After all, she had made no inclination to keep up her end of the deal; she hadn't made an effort to make Jack feel welcome, much less make a move to mentor him about job options in Texas.

If she was truly honest with herself, she was the one in the wrong on that point.

Her hand finally found the last orange, and she closed her fingers around it with relief—finally, she was done for today. Grasping it firmly, she tugged on it, expecting it to easily break loose like the others. When it didn't, but resisted instead, she tugged harder. When it still wouldn't come off, she gave up with an exasperated huff, letting go and turning to collect her basket so she could make her way to Nook's before dark. However, just as she turned, she heard a soft _thump_ behind her; whirling, she saw the last orange lying in the grass at the base of the tree. She picked it up and scowled at it, wondering why it was so stubborn and how it had simply fallen off after her failed attempts. Shrugging it off for the moment, she put it in the basket with the others and headed off to Nook's, anticipating the relaxation she was hoping to get the rest of the evening.

* * *

**A/N: YESSS! I DID IT! And with a few days to spare until Band Camp, nonetheless. ewe I'm so happy right now I can't even begin to explain.** **Anyway, this chapter is...long. Longer than all my other oneshots, I think. O_o How that happened, I have no clue. I just couldn't find a proper stopping point, I guess. ^^;**

**Anyway, I hope I can get working on Chapter 3 soon, so y'all won't have to wait as long.**

**Please R&R! ^w^**


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